sam000lee
Forum Mentor
Hasn't run in a few years. The guy I got it from said that it started bogging down and then would hardly idle the following spring. I took the carbs off when I got it home and they're SO dirty and are currently soaking in the carb bucket. I'm really excited to pull them out tonight to clean hah.
It's interesting to compare the XS engine to the GS. Oil filtration is apparently a common problem so that will be what I look into next. There's a separate oil and sump filter and two plugs on the bottom of the engine that you need to loosen to drain the oil. I believe the XS650 engine was originally released in 1969 and went through 1984 and it doesn't look like there were any major changes over the years. Being a 1981, mine has an electronic ignition system and they just left the area where the points were empty. I thought maybe parts of the bike had been stripped when I opened it up! So much as I've seen so far, the GS engines seem far more robust.
So far I'm $800 in for the bike and just under $200 for a new battery, intake boots and a couple other things. Going to fire it up before addressing the shot break system. The air filters are rotted so I need to address that, too. There is one per carb and they're $47 each for the oem style. I can also get a set of K&N replacements for $90 or the K&N pods for under $100. Haven't made up my mind which to do yet. After that, I'm going to throw on some Euro bars similar to my GS750 set up and I'll be making a new seat as well.
This bike is partly to encourage one of my friends to start riding. I bought it and am going to fix it up but may sell it at cost to him when the weather comes around and he's interested to buy. If he doesn't end up buying it, I've been wanting to build a chopper for a while and TC bros sells a weld on hardtail...
Me and my buddy (GS550 owner) have a lift set up in our part of a multi-use space/art studio we have. I'm happy to be filling my leather studio with motorcycles - I made this hand stitched key fob for the key:
Carbs are Mikuni BS34 and are almost identical to those on my GS450:
It's interesting to compare the XS engine to the GS. Oil filtration is apparently a common problem so that will be what I look into next. There's a separate oil and sump filter and two plugs on the bottom of the engine that you need to loosen to drain the oil. I believe the XS650 engine was originally released in 1969 and went through 1984 and it doesn't look like there were any major changes over the years. Being a 1981, mine has an electronic ignition system and they just left the area where the points were empty. I thought maybe parts of the bike had been stripped when I opened it up! So much as I've seen so far, the GS engines seem far more robust.
So far I'm $800 in for the bike and just under $200 for a new battery, intake boots and a couple other things. Going to fire it up before addressing the shot break system. The air filters are rotted so I need to address that, too. There is one per carb and they're $47 each for the oem style. I can also get a set of K&N replacements for $90 or the K&N pods for under $100. Haven't made up my mind which to do yet. After that, I'm going to throw on some Euro bars similar to my GS750 set up and I'll be making a new seat as well.
This bike is partly to encourage one of my friends to start riding. I bought it and am going to fix it up but may sell it at cost to him when the weather comes around and he's interested to buy. If he doesn't end up buying it, I've been wanting to build a chopper for a while and TC bros sells a weld on hardtail...
Me and my buddy (GS550 owner) have a lift set up in our part of a multi-use space/art studio we have. I'm happy to be filling my leather studio with motorcycles - I made this hand stitched key fob for the key:
Carbs are Mikuni BS34 and are almost identical to those on my GS450:
